Date

6-19-2024

Department

Rawlings School of Divinity

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Chair

Bitrus B. Cobongs

Keywords

Life of Christ, Mark, travels, Caesarea Philippi, Galilee, training, public, private, disciples, Peter's Confession, itinerary, transfiguration, Gospels

Disciplines

Christianity | Religion

Abstract

A study of the travels of Christ leads to new insights about his ministry and ministry foci at different times in his life. By segmenting the life of Christ into three major portions – public ministry, private ministry, and mixed-focus ministry – the reasons behind Christ’s different attitudes toward crowds and miracles and his different emphases in his sermons become clearer. Portions of the Gospels are better understood with this segmentation. The locations that Jesus traveled to and stayed in also play a part in understanding his motives. At times, Jesus was keen to show himself to the crowds, doing very large and public miracles such as feeding thousands of people or performing miraculous healings in largely Jewish areas. At other times, he took individuals away for private healings and requested they keep the miracles private. These more private encounters find Jesus in more barren, Gentile areas. Despite spending much of his early ministry in Galilee, Jesus began to travel to less populated and more Gentile areas about halfway through his ministry. His focus switched from seeking out crowds to seeking out alone time with his twelve disciples. This marks the transition from public to private ministry in Christ’s life and is the focus of study for this dissertation. Jesus was able to accomplish an important discussion with the disciples at Caesarea Philippi, which was also the site of Peter’s confession and Christ’s transfiguration. These events are important conclusions to Jesus’s private, focused ministry with the disciples. The times Jesus spent among the crowds as well as those times marked by close personal ministry to his disciples show his changing ministry focus throughout his life and lend important insights to a study of the life of Christ.

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